Just close your eyes, close your mouth, put your tongue on the roof of your mouth and take long deep breaths through your nose. Just focus on the sensation of your breath going in your nose and then coming out your nose. Other thoughts will drift into your mind and you might begin thinking about things. That's okay. Bring yourself back to the sensation of air coming in & out of your nose.

Meditation is not about focusing on nothing. It's about the repetitions of thoughts coming into your mind and you doing your best to let them drift by and move your mind back to the focus of your breath. You will never be perfect at it. That isn't the point.

Meditation will bring you a newfound calmness and composure in the face of challenging circumstance. Whether that's on the field, in life, or with your peers, it is something that allows your mind to begin capturing your full potential.

Life's cheat code.

Meditation can be viewed as a mindfulness practice, mental training, stress reliever, and even conscious altering. I think it is something essential for anyone wishing to get the best out of themselves and their future.

It is about learning how to separate yourself from the constant mental assault of stress, impulses, anxieties, and even physical sensations. It is about learning how to gain more control of you.

Some people get frustrated with mediation and give up, saying it wasn't for them. Those are the people who need it most. People often think it is about trying to think of nothing, but I would say it's more about learning to let everything pass by and maintain your focus in spite of the ever-wondering mind.

I recommend 1-2x/day of at least 15 minutes. I also like the below soundtrack to play with headphones to help you get into a deeper state of mindfulness. I do this laying down outside on a hard flat surface like concrete or stone. Grass or dirt is fine too but depends what you have available to you.

Demo-No-Voiceover.mp3

Alternative (best to download and listen on airplane mode)

‍

General instructions for meditation:

Close the mouth. Tongue on the roof of the mouth. Breathing in and out of the nose. Focus on the sensation of air coming in and then out of your nose. Focus on that sensation alone. Thoughts and day dreams will pop into your mind, but do your best to let those thoughts drift by like clouds in the sky. Each time your mind drifts, just return the sensation of air coming in and then out of your nose. This would be considered a rep. Repeat.

It is less about achieving perfection and more about the act of allowing those thoughts to drift by and you returning to center.

This kind of work helps you better handle challenges on and off the field. It lets you better control stressful events and interactions instead of them controlling you. I would say meditation is mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, and pretty much everything relating to the human body.

I find myself so used to higher levels of clear-headedness that on days where I don't get to mediate there is a noticeable drop-off in my internal state.

Keep in mind that this is different from the standing meditation which is a fascial recovery tool.

Further Learning

‍

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

‍